Crucial Colonizers: Western Lifestyle Disturbing Key Bacterial Balance

[sysop]

Trillions of bacteria living in and on the human body play a vital role in preserving health. But C-section births, antibiotics and excessive hygiene have been disturbing our microbial balance and possibly contributing to intestinal ailments, obesity, allergies and autism.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...856825,00.html

[zhizn]

I wonder if there is someone who can point me in the direction of more info on other diseases that are linked to dysbiosis?

[sezme]

I would like to know why it’s so important for us in the “west” to emulate the physiology of the Amazon peoples. The article doesn’t mention this. Do the Amazonian people have a longer average lifespan than the western people? I would imagine they don’t suffer many typical western afflictions such as heart disease and obesity, but is this because they don’t live as long?

If the Amazon peoples are healthier than westerners, could it be due to their diet, which probably contains more plant-based foods? Did the researchers consider these questions before they embarked on their mission to investigate faecal bacteria? The article doesn’t say.

I’m not trying to dismiss the theory of dysbiosis, but it does seem to over-complicate an issue that could have a relatively simple cause: our highly processed meat and dairy-based western diet compared to the mostly plant and fish diet of the Amazonians.

I’m usually sceptical when people blame our modern hygiene practises in the west for a whole range of health conditions. There might be some cases where too much hygiene is a factor, but in the days before we had these modern hygiene practises, the child and adult mortality rate was much, much higher.